


to be well

by mathelode (engmaresh)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Hand Kisses, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Outtakes, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-12 08:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19225147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/engmaresh/pseuds/mathelode
Summary: After her Glimmer's escape from the clutches of the Horde, Adora's there to provide an unexpected source of comfort. Later after the battle, Glimmer finds herself returning the favour.





	to be well

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Binary_Sunset](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Binary_Sunset/gifts).



> The first half is an angstier/hurt-comfortier take on episode 10 of season 1. I've taken the liberties of restructuring the events a teensy little bit, but basically the first bit happens before Queen Angella requests Glimmer have dinner with her.

“It’s fine, really!” Glimmer kept protesting. “If you could just...give me a boost.”

“No!” insisted Bow. “You didn’t pay any attention to me about sword safety, but you both will listen to me about this. No heights! Adora—” he added, turning to where Adora, who had temporarily given up using the sword for healing, was constructing some sort of tent with it and a blanket. “We need more pillows.”

“Right away!” Lightly she leaped up the floating steps that led up to Glimmer’s hanging bed, grabbing pillows and blankets by the armload, before jumping down again with just as much balance and grace.  
  
Watching all that, Glimmer felt that sinking feeling in her stomach intensify. What if what Shadow Weaver had done to her was irreversible? What if she was never going to be able to teleport again? Her skin crawled, goosebumps breaking out over her bare arms. She’d started recognizing it as the signs of a glitch, and hugged her arms close about herself as another spasm raced through her body. This one didn’t hurt as bad as the previous one had, but it left her with an ache that she could feel at the back of her teeth, something bone deep. She groaned, putting her head in her hands.

“Hey.”

Peeking through her fingers, Glimmer looked up to see Adora staring down at her, an expression of deep concern on her face. “It’s fine,” she mumbled, rubbing her hands over her eyes. “It’s just another one.”

“Okay,” said Adora. She walked away, and Glimmer felt her heart clench. That hurt more than the glitching had, and she buried her face in her knees. But footsteps neared again, and something warm and plush was draped over her. Glimmer closed her eyes grateful, pulling the soft, soft fabric around herself and nosing into it. Her favourite blanket! She inhaled deeply, taking in the familiar scent. It probably needed a wash, but it smelled safe, comforting and homey. Meanwhile Adora fussed around her, tucking in the blanket wherever it didn’t cover Glimmer properly, every now and then running her hands through Glimmer’s hair. Adora wasn’t one for touchy-feeliness, and she did it almost absently, a little roughly. Like she was used to petting coarser, thicker hair.

Glimmer sighed a little to herself, tugged her blanket tighter, and let herself slowly keel over onto her side.

“Glimmer!”

“It’s okay, Bow,” she said. “I just want to lie down.”

“We’ve made you a bed, right over there!” He pointed to somewhere over her shoulder. Glimmer rolled over, her blanket becoming tangled in her feet as she did. There, on the couch by the window, was a...pile. Of blankets, pillows and cushions, and the sagging half-tent Adora had made. As Glimmer watched, it slowly tipped under the weight of the heavy comforter it was holding up, and fell to the floor with a muted clatter.

“Oops!” Glimmer heard Adora call out over her shoulder. “I’ll fix that!”

“No, no,” she said, and wriggled her arms free so that she could half-crawl, half-roll herself over to her giant blanket couch-nest. “I don’t need a tent.”

She climbed up onto the couch, laying back against the pillows. It didn’t make her feel much better, but it was softer than the floor. As Adora started swinging her sword around again, much to Bow’s dismay, Glimmer felt her eyes droop. Maybe all she had to do was give into it. Maybe sleep could fix this.

 _Clang!_ Glimmer jackknifed upright, staring wildly around the room.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Adora said, but Glimmer hardly heard her. The scare had triggered another bout of glitching, this time made worse by the blanket. Somehow as she glitched, the thousands of microfibres that made it so soft felt as if they had suddenly turned to steel bristles, rubbing up against her bare skin and through her clothes. Yelling, she threw off the blanket, even as Adora and Bow rushed over to her side.

“I’m so sorry!” Adora said again, her blue eyes wide. “I didn’t think--”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” said Glimmer as casually as she could. She slumped back onto the couch, draping her arm over her face.

“Maybe we should tell your mom,” Bow said, sitting down by her head and carefully petting her hair.

“No,” Glimmer groaned. “I don’t want her to know how much of a failure I am. I can’t!”

“It’s not your fault!” With as much care as Bow had shown, Adora sat down at the other end of the couch, and lifted Glimmers feet into her lap. Almost absently, she started stroking her hand down one of Glimmer’s shins. “You couldn’t have anticipated what they did. And as for Entrapta…”

“No, you can’t tell me that wasn’t my fault,” cried Glimmer, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. “I got her killed. It should have been me. I was stupid enough to get caught in the first place!”

“Don’t say that!” Bow’s hand tightened briefly in her hair, making her wince, but thankfully it didn’t trigger another glitch. “You can’t say something like that, Glimmer.”

“Why?” she asked scornfully, unheeding of the tears that had started trickling down her cheeks. “I’m a leader. I’m Commander Glimmer. I have responsibilities, and I knew from the start that I had to make sacrifices.”

“Those sacrifices don’t have to be your life.”

“What do you know?” Glimmer snapped. “If it wasn’t for me and Bow you might have been the one who killed Entrapta.”

Glimmer regretted the words the moment they left her mouth, but too late. Adora looked stricken.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “This isn’t your fault. It’s _mine_. I have to go and learn how to use my powers properly. I can fix you, I know I can. I just...I just don’t know _how_.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” cried Bow, shooting to his feet. Glimmer struggled upright, dashing tears away from her face.

“Don’t go!”

“I have to do this.”

“Don’t--” Another glitch interrupted her, sending her crashing to the floor. Gritting her teeth through it, Glimmer pulled herself to her feet, with an assist from Bow. “Don’t go because of what I said. I didn’t mean it.”

Adora gave her a small smile. “I know. But like you, I have responsibilities.”

When Glimmer lurched forward, she stepped up, closing the distance between them even as Glimmer fell into her arms in an awkward hug. “Be careful,” muttered, aware that she was probably smearing sweat, tears and snot all over She-Ra’s pristine white tunic. “Please come back.”

“I will,” said Adora, the smile audible in her tone, though Glimmer couldn’t see it. “I just...I really, really like you guys.” That came out a bit more awkwardly, like she wasn’t used to saying it.

“Awww,” said Bow, coming round to put his arms around them both. “We really like you too. But _be careful_.”

Adora stepped back, pulling out of the hug, much to Glimmer’s regret. “Yes, sir,” she said, snapping Bow a somewhat cheeky salute. Then to Glimmer’s surprise, Adora lifted one of her hands to her mouth, pressing her lips to where Glimmer’s pulse beat under her glove. “I _will_ come back.”

Then she was leaping out the window into the night, right before a knock came on the door.

 

* * *

 

The night after the battle, Glimmer lay in her hanging bed for the first time in several nights, watching the moon through her window. Most of the princesses had returned to their own palaces, though some had accepted her mother’s offer to stay the night and had been settled in the guest quarters. Bow...Bow had gone off somewhere, after many hand-wringing apologies. To tell his dads about the good news, though how they wouldn’t find out for themselves she couldn’t guess. Still, she understood his desire to be near family after the battle and couldn’t begrudge him his absence, seeing as she’d spent dinner with the soothing touch of her mother’s wings across her back.

Yet that didn’t mean she didn’t miss his company, or Adora’s. The events of the day should have tired her out, but instead Glimmer felt refreshed and rejuvenated. Her powers thrummed under her skin, and all evening she’d given into the urge to teleport even the smallest distances, reveling in their return.

So when she heard the door creak open, she was down there in seconds, ready for whoever the visitor was.

“Adora!”

“Argh!"

Making a face, Glimmer took a step back. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“Oh,” said Adora with a deep sigh, bracing herself against the door. “Glimmer! You scared me.”

“What are you doing here?”

Adora was dressed in pajamas, the same ones that were reserved for guests. Glimmer realised she’d never seen Adora in pajamas before. They looked odd on her.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Adora looked sheepish. “Could I...I hope I didn’t wake you up.”

“Oh no,” said Glimmer, shaking her head. “I can’t sleep either.” Grabbing the other girl by the hand, she teleported them up to her bed.

“Whoa!” cried Adora, falling to her hands in the mattress. Carefully she crawled over to the edge and peered over it, like she was assessing the distance to the ground. “How do you sleep like this? Aren’t you scared of falling out?”

“Nope!” said Glimmer cheerfully, kicking her feet over the edge. “I did once, when I was small, but _zapp_!” --she disappeared and reappeared in the same spot-- “I somehow teleported myself back up here before I hit the ground. _In my sleep_.”

“Nice,” said Adora admiringly. As she pushed herself upright, she winced, and a strange whole-body shudder ran through her.

“What’s wrong?” asked Glimmer, reaching out in concern.

Adora looked away. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing,” Glimmer insisted stubbornly. “Please, tell me. Let me help.”

Adora gave her a long look, then in answer, silently turned around and pulled off the top of her pajamas. Any sense of embarrassment Glimmer had at the other girl’s undressing was quickly overwritten by her shock at the sight of the parallel lines of red scratches running down Adora’s back.

“Oh!” There was only one person who could have left marks like that. She traced a careful finger alongside one of the outer scratch marks. To her relief, they didn’t run deep. “You could have asked my mom to heal them.”

“I could?” asked Adora. Her complete surprise at the suggestion, like it would never in a hundred years have occurred to her to ask for help, made something in Glimmer’s chest twinge.

“Yes,” she said. “She would have been more than happy to help. After all, you helped save Etheria.”

Adora looked down at her lap, hands twisted together. “I didn’t want to bother her,” she mumbled.

“It’s not a bother,” Glimmer said firmly. “We could--”

“No!” Adora quickly pulled her pajama top back on. “It’s fine. She’s sleeping, I don’t want to wake her up.”

And yet you came to me, Glimmer thought, still gazing at the curve of Adora’s back where the scratches were now concealed. “Fine, we’ll go in the morning. But I do have something for it.”

She teleported down to her dresser, picking up a small jar of ointment, then returning to the bed. Adora had put on her top again, and made herself comfortable, lying down on her stomach, one hand dangling over the edge. Apparently whatever misgivings she’d had about the hanging bed, she’d already overcome them.

“Here,” said Glimmer, unscrewing the top of the jar. “I use it for small cuts and bruises. I think it will help with these.”

Biting her lip, Adora nodded.

Carefully rolling up the hem of Adora’s top, Glimmer spread the ointment out thinly over each scratch. Throughout it, Adora didn’t make a sound, though sometimes she squirmed a little.

“You can tell me if it hurts,” Glimmer said softly.

“It’s fine.”

When she was done, Glimmer wiped her hand on her thigh and teleported back down to return the jar to her dresser. She turned back to the bed to find Adora siting the edge, preparing to jump onto the closest floating stair to get back down.

“What are you doing?” Glimmer cried, teleporting back up to her and grabbing onto her arm before she could go.

“Back to my room,” said Adora, sounding puzzled.

“But--” Glimmer began, then shook her head. “Stay here for the night.”

“O-kay,” said Adora, the look of confusion on her face growing as she stretched out the word. “I can sleep on the couch--”

“No, sleep here with me.” The words tumbled out of Glimmer’s before she could hold them back. She flushed, hoping the room was dark enough that Adora wouldn’t notice. “I mean...if you want to.”

She could sense the hesitation in Adora’s tensed shoulders, the way her face turned away from her. Gnawing on her lip, hoping she hadn’t irreversibly ruined their friendship, it took everything in her to not zapp away, far, far away from this problem. She was a leader. She had a responsibility.

“Okay,” said Adora, at first so soft Glimmer thought she’d almost imagined it. “Yeah,” she said again, stronger this time. “If you...I mean--” It was Adora’s turn to blush.

It took some maneuvering, and regardless of her feelings, Glimmer was determined in getting her usual side of the bed which did require a little more teleporting, but finally they were settled, and Adora reached down to drag one of Glimmer’s many blankets over them both.

“Thank you,” Adora whispered, and Glimmer realised that of all of them, the battle probably had been hardest for her. After all, she’d once been part of The Horde. And no matter how evil The Horde was, she’d probably thought of them as family and friends.

“Thank you for coming back,” said Glimmer, and this time she took Adora’s hand, pressing her lips to Adora’s beating pulse.

“Of course I came back,” said Adora, and Glimmer caught a glimpse of her smile right before she snuggled close, tucking her head under Glimmer’s chin. Glimmer put her arms around her, carefully avoiding the scratches on her back. “I always will.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Queen Angella's healing powers are entirely my own invention.


End file.
